
Qass_iL___ 
Book 



DISCOURSE 



OCCASIONED BY THE 



DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN : 



PREACHED AT COXSACKIE, 



ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1865, 






WARREN HATHAWAY 



ALBANY : 

r UNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 

1805. 



DISCOURSE 



OCCASIONED BY THE 



DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



PREACHED AT COXSACKXE, 



ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 1865, 




WARREN HATHAWAY. 



ALBANY : 

J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. 
1865. 






CORRESPONDENCE. 



Coxsackie, April 20, 1865. 
We, the undersigned, citizens of Coxsackie, respectfully request 
you to prepare and furnish a copy of your discourse delivered at the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, on Wednesday, April 19th, 1865, on the 
death of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, for 
publication. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Stephen P. Hallock, 

James W. Hiserel, 

Geo. PiEed, 

glldersleve bedell, 

K. Cook, 

F. C. Dedrick, 

N. C. Bedell, 

E. O. Beatty. 

B. F. Beatty, 

James E. Greene, 

Michael Krcbe, 



Simpson S. Bell, 
J. B. Bronx, 
S. A. Dwight, 
H. D. Bedell, 
J. T. Bedell, 
Marcus Wing, 
Isaac Brown, 
F. S. Greene, 
R. E. Buckp.ee, 
Hiram Brown, 
Casper I. Collier. 



Wednesday, April 21, 1865. 
Gentlemen : — The hurried preparation of the discourse, to which 
you refer, would lead me to withhold it from publication ; still, I do 
not feel at liberty to refuse your request from the earnest desire I 
have 1o do all that is possible to honor the memory of our lamented 
President — all that I can to have the people feel and understand the 
solemn duties of the hour. 

I am, most respectfully yours. 

WAKEEX HATHAWAY. 



DISCOURSE 



As appropriately expressing the sad, calamitous 
event that has called us together — and also expressing 
our circumstances and feelings as a nation, we have 
selected the following Scriptures for our text: 

II Samuel i, 19. — The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high 
places : how are the mighty fallen ; 

II Samuel xix, 2. — And the victory that day was turned into 
mourning unto all the people. 

We have congregated with an assembled nation, to 
attend the funeral of the chief magistrate of the United 
States. Probably such a day of grief — of vast assem- 
blages and bitter mourning as this, was never seen 
before in the annals of time. It is no ordinary event 
that moves a continent, that bows millions in tears, 
but to day the Great Republic is bereaved, and its 
monrning has all the elements of sublimity. 

Nations have often buried their rulers : gilded hatch- 
ments have often graced the i'03'al hearse: the marble 
tomb which pride and ambition has prepared, has often 
been unsealed to receive the great, the kingly and the 
wise; for Death, whose mission is, "to tread out 
empire and to quench the stars, " with equal pace and 
power knocks at the palace and the cottage. 

But when did millions bow in mourning as they bow 
to-day? When before has friend and foe, sire and son, 
freeman and bondman, rich and poor, lofty and lowly, 



struck hands in companionship of sorrow, and joined 
in a concert of tears. 

Our soldiers on the field of battle, 

Our heroes on the main, 
The merchant prince and negro chattel, 

All swell the sad refrain : 
"Man of the millions, thou art lost too soon I" 

Sines last Friday night, so far and fast as the tid- 
ings of the more than regicide have flashed upon the 
telegraphic wires, there has been in every heart and 
upon every tongue but one theme ; and to-day, 
throughout our land, from the lakes to the gulf, from 
granite Xew England to the prairied west, from the At- 
lantic to the Mississippi : in one grand, mournful, 
weeping procession — the nation follows the mangled 
form and gloomy hearse of Abraham Lincoln. Unex- 
pected, sudden as a bolt from a clear sky, the nimble 
lightning flashed the sad news, the awful story of the 
assassination of our President. "We are, and have 
been for days, a saddened, bewildered, terrified people ! 
Certainly no event ever transpired in the United 
States that has subdued and bereaved so many hearts, 
caused so many groans of anguish, cast upon our land 
such a shower of tears. 

Suddenly, like the gloom of the dark day of 1780, 
when the sun was blotted out, and night came at noon, 
a pall of darkness has fallen over all our land; and 
God looks upon a stricken, afflicted people — such 
sorrowing as he never saw occasioned by the death of 
any Hebrew or Gentile ruler before. 

Can it be possible, that he upon whom rested the 
confidence and hopes of the nation in this hour of 
bitter trial — is gone ! 

One day along the electric wire 
His words of love and mercy sped; 



We came nest morn : that tongue of fire 
Said only, "He who spake is dead." 

Dead ! while his voice was living yet, 
In echoes round the pillared dome! 

Dead ! while his blotted page lay wet 
With themes of state and loves of home ! 

Dead! he so great, and strong, and wise, 
While the mean thousands yet draw breath; 

How deepened, through that dread surprise, 
The mystery and the awe of Death ! 

Through him we hoped to speak the word 
Which wins the freedom of a laud! 

And lift for human right, the sword 

Which dropped from Hampden's dying hand. 

We seemed to see our flag unfurled, 

Our champion waiting in his place 
For the last battle of the world — 

The Armageddon of the race. * * * * 

We sweep the land from hill to strand, 
We seek the strong, the wise, the brave, 

And, sad of heart, return to stand 
In silence by a new made grave ! 

The world at large will mourn with us. The good, 
the brave, the liberty loving — those who desire the 
elevation and happiness of our race, will feel they have 
lost a brother and a friend. The enthralled of Italy 
and Hungary — the oppressed of every land — will 
mourn: for one who loved mankind and labored for 
universal freedom, has fallen ! 

A few days ago the land was filled with joy; a series 

of brilliant victories crowned the efforts of the Federal 

■ armies. You remember with what breathless anxiety 

we waited to hear from Sherman; he reported at last, 



6 

and his bulletin was the record of a triumph. We 
paused a moment, feeling that the crisis of our nation 
and the war had come; then the "On to Eichmond" 
of four years ago — now the more sublime — "On to 
Freedom" was consummated, and the old flag, un- 
stained with wrong, but battle-torn, waved proudly 
from the defiant ramparts of Richmond — dropping 
bread and mercy from its ample folds upon the guilty, 
famishing foe. 

We had hardly time to express our loyal joy, when 
there came the tidings that our modest, peerless 
Grant, had received the sword of Robert E. Lee and 
the surrender of the grand army of the rebellion. 
The land was filled with joy. It was a complete con- 
trast to April, 1861, when the flag of the Republic 
trailed in the dust, and traitors were jubilant; the 
starry banner was waving in victorious triumph — 
cannon were uttering cheering salvos — drum and fife 
and bugle, were uttering prophesies of peace and 
national integrity. The hearts of millions were beat- 
ing high with hope as they looked upon the dark folds 
of the storm-cloud of battle, rolling slowly away, 
fringed with amber and gold, giving promise in its 
bow of beauty that the bloody tempest of treason 
was spent and that we should soon enjoy the calm of 
national peace and fraternity. There was thankful- 
ness to almighty God, and the pure offerings of praise 
ascended from hill top and valley from hamlet and 
city; even New York felt the joyous Pentacost, and 
"Wall St. spake in unknown tongues," as there 
swelled amid her Mammon temples the grand old 
• Doxology — the " Te Deum" of a nation's deliverance. 
There was no indulging in feelings of vengeance, no 
gloating in gladness over the sorrows and chagrin of 
a fallen foe; but disposed to let "the Lifted thunder of 



justice drop," extend the hand of mercy and love, 
the people temperately rejoiced. It was not a Roman 
saturnalia; but a patriotic, Christian jubilee. 

But alas, how changed ! .Now, grief and indignation, 
soreness of heart and vengeance of purpose, are blend- 
ed in the American mind : and as we survey our na- 
tion to day we look upon " a sea of glass mingled with 
fire." The victorious flag droops in mourning, 
'drums are muffled, songs of gladness have suddenly 
ceased ; and throughout the land, there is mourning 
for the dead. Strong men weep as they never wept 
before, hopeful men sigh, good men pray and look to 
God for strength, loyal men are appalled, the bitter 
partizan is a contrite mourner, none but heartless trait- 
tors can rejoice. Truly, " in the day of victory the 
people mourn." 

Why this intense and bitter feeling of sadness ? 
Not because death is so strange — we are familiar with 
its bereavements. Earth is a wilderness of graves, 
and all mankind are marching to the tomb. During 
the last four years Death has held carnival ; noblest 
bravest lives have been sacrificed, the bloom and ripe- 
ness of our land has fallen. 

Neither is it simply because our Chief Magistrate 
is dead. This not a new experience for the nation. 
Twice before has Death entered the White House. 
We are not without a ruler; already the mantle o 
office has fallen upon one worthy to be the servant 
and representative of the American people. Yet we 
feel we have lost the man, who above all others is need- 
ed in this time of national peril. The man who above 
all others seemed chosen of God to lead us through the 
Red Sea of rebellion, and guide us to the promised 
land of liberty and peace. 

But this is not all; there are noble, devoted patriots 



that we can trust; but alas! we stand in the presence 
of a mangled corse! Our ears tiugle with the tidings 
of a most foul assassination! "We have pressed upon 
our attention an awful crime. Our Chief Magistrate 
has fallen a victim — basely, cruelly murdered! Shall 
we be safe? Shall our roof4rees blaze, our hearth 
stones run with blood? 

The most sacred person in the nation has fallen by 
the hand of a ruffian ! Xo wonder the heart strings 
of the nation vibrate with strange agony. This is 
something new. This is a sad, bitter lesson for the 
Republic. We are reminded of the blood}-, stormy 
days of Rome; when the dagger controlled affairs of 
State, and Anarchy was on the throne. 

But why does this murder so deeply affect us? It 
does affect us most peculiarly. When we heard the 
news of this assassination, we felt humbled — subdued 
in spirit. There was a feeling of oppressive sadness, 
loneliness. We have been proud of the name Amer- 
ican, and as we have looked upon that starry banner, 
now draped in mourning, we have rejoiced in its short 
but glorious history; felt that more sacred truth and 
principle were symbolized in that bunting, than in any 
other national ensign. Beneath it stood Washington 
and the Spirit of Liberty, and we were hopeful, that 
soon, wherever it floated, all should be free. 

Murders have occurred before. We know that 
wicked men will do wickedly. Men have often been 
murdered for their money, been murdered to gratify 
the spirit of revenge, because of enmity and ambition; 
but none of these motives led to the base deed that 
has plunged the nation in the deepest sorrow. 

One thing the assassin has gained — an immortality 
of infamy, by striking down "the foremost man of all 
the world. " But let me plainly state if I can the mean- 



9 

ing and terror of this deed of blood. Let me state my 
feelings and convictions. Let me discharge my duty 
in this solemn hour. 

We have come together, as mourners, to show our 
respect for the departed — without reference to relig- 
ious sect, or political party. Far be it from me to utter 
a word to injure the feelings of any loyal man ; as to 
traitors, God forbid that I should please them; but I 
would withhold no word that condemns national 
iniquity, that would have a tendency to convict, and 
convert from political wrong, from organic wickedness. 
Standing before God, the judge of nations, and in the 
presence of the mangled form of our late President, it 
is a time for plain speaking, for repentance, for the 
rebuking of sin, for patriotism and fraternity. Let 
citizens be brothers. Let Americans be united, let 
them heed the farewell words that trembled from the 
lips of Washington, as they bend over the remains of 
Abraham Lincoln. 

We shall mention four things as points of interest 
and instruction. First, The sad event. 
" How are the mighty fallen I" 

This was the language of David when the tidings 
came of the death of Saul and Jonathan. Inspired 
genius never uttered a more eloquent eulogium, a more 
tender and touching tribute to departed greatness, than 
he pronounced on that occasion. Indeed, he seems to 
eclipse himself in this impassioned funeral ode. 

In this noble panegyric, we are led to admire the 
spirit of David. 

Unambitious, forgiving, he seems more good than 
great. We scarcely know which to admire most, his 
loving heart or his princely intellect. Irresistible 
with his sword, sweeping the harp with a master's 

2 



10 

hand, unrivalled as poet and king, his greatness is only 
equalled by his goodness, -while his virtues outshine his 
crown. 

You should remember that the only obstacle 
between David and the throne was removed by the 
death of Saul. The fallen king had treated him with 
the utmost cruelty for years, seeking his life with 
relentless hatred. A price had been set upon his head, 
and he had been " hunted like a partridge in the moun- 
tains." Yet forgetful of self he buries the wrongs he 
has suffered, in the grave of Saul. Instead of hailing 
as a friend the straDger who brings the bracelet 
and crown of the murdered king, he treats him as a 
regicide and orders his immediate execution. He had 
lifted his hand against the head of a government. 
Saul was the Lord's anointed. His person was sacred. 

No more sacred, however, in the estimation of Hea- 
ven, than the person of Abraham Lincoln. As we 
have said, the assassin in this case is more than a regi- 
cide ; his crime greater if possible than though he 
had slain a king. It seems to mo that no one who 
stands at the head of a nation as ruler, can be more 
truly the Lord's anointed, so far as government is 
concerned, than the President of the United States. 

This responsible position is not the accident of birth, 
it is not the inheritance of family, it is the gift of the 
'people "Whoever fids this high office as the choice of 
the nation is sacred to us, because almost alone among 
tin 1 nations, God has given as this right of election. 
This high privilege has been secured to us by suffer- 
ing, sacrifice and blood. It cost the patriotism of '76 
— which was not a parlor, or shoulder-strap patriot- 
ism merely, but that practical devotion to country 
that pledged lite and fortune and sacred honor to the 
cause of freedom, and sanctified the battle fields of the 



11 

Revolution with the best blood of our race. And no 
person can be more sacred in view of cost and princi- 
ple, sacrifice and freedom, than our Chief Magistrate. 

We have often been told he was in danger. Still 
we could not believe there was anything serious in the 
cowardly threats that were uttered by the friends ot 
the rebellion. Four years ago — we speak it with 
shame, to save his life he fled through darkness to 
Washington, and the plot of assassination was foiled. 
He has been spared until the comparatively unknown 
man has acquired a world-wide fame. Spared, until 
he has won the respect and love and confidence of 
millions. Spared, during the darkness of the night, 
he has died in the morning. But in the dawn for 
which he looked and longed and prayed: while its 
mellow tints were flushing the sky, the murderous 
blow has fallen. The words of the assassin, — "Sic 
semper tyrannis" — find no response in the heart of 
suffering humanity. No tyrant ever had such a 
funeral, such a mourning as the world decrees for 
Lincoln. A tyrant! He was the embodiment of 
American sentiment, of the liberty-loving spirit of our 
age ; he was the representative in principle and action, 
of the people. 

The murderous blow that shattered the casket of 
his noble soul was not aimed at him alone, but at us, 
at Americans, at the loyal, liberty-loving masses, at 
all who desire the welfare of our government, the 
stability of our nation. The words of the assassin 
were the wolfish howl of anarchy, and his blow was 
struck at the dearest interests of mankind. It was 
the attempted assassination of the principle of Demo- 
cracy, of the rights of the people. The murderer 
aimed to shoot a truth, a principle, a law of God; 
between him and that truth, that principle, that 



12 

law, stood Abraham Lincoln. The ball struck the 
President, he was mortal, but principle, truth, right- 
eousness are invulnerable — immortal. He alas! was 
killed, but not that at which the shot was aimed. 

Glory to God forever! 

Beyond the despot's will 
The soul of freedom liveth 

Imperishable still. 

We will think of thee, brother! 

And thy sainted name shall be 
In the blessing of the captive, 

And the anthem of the free. 

Looking over the history of the world, I am often 
impressed with the omnipotence of righteousness and 
truth. Nothing after all is so secure as the principle 
of virtue. It is firmer than the mountains, it is 
stronger than any fortress on the land, or iron-clad on 
the deep. Virtue, in the bulrush ark, is more secure 
than vice in Pharaoh's palace. And though truth has 
its martyrs, it is stronger at the stake or on the scaf- 
fold, than falsehood in the moated castle, or cannon- 
mou'nted citadel. And this effort to destroy virtue 
and national righteousness at Washington, will im- 
press us again, by showing the immutability of justice 
and excellence. 

We have said the person of our President was 
sacred. Reelected by a popular majority of nearly 
five hundred thousand, the people had said emphatic. 
ally _« well done, good and faithful servant." Again 
invested with tl.e authority of his high office, he was, 
if possible, doubly sacred to all — save the foul dogs 
of a gigantic, cruel and fiendish rebellion ! He and 
Wm. H. Seward, were perhaps, more than any other 
two, representative men. The people, the Amen- 



can commonwealth, acknowledged their 'leadership, 
rather I should, say regarded, them as faithful servants. 
They were doing the behests of the nation. Hence 
it is solemnly, impressively true, the President falls 
for the people : for their rights and. liberties, their 
government and country. 

It is an event of awful magnitude. Its influence 
will be wide-reaching and far-resounding, like the 
terrible judgments of Heaven. It should lead the 
American people to humble devotion before God.. It 
should lead, to honesty of purpose, candor of heart. 
It should, calm the turbulent waters of party strife, 
and. lead to national repentance. Ail should pause, 
review their course, and candidly consider their duty 
to the nation and the world. Let the public weal, 
let national prosperity, and virtue, and existence, be 
more sacred than party. Let us make our political 
organizations the conservators of truth and righteou ■ - 
ness ; not mere systematized opposition to the govern- 
ment. Let party ism, be subject to a pure and lofty 
patriotism. 

As Christians, let us not permit devotion to party 
to blind our eyes so that we cannot see, to fetter our 
hands so that we cannot strike for the right, to pad- 
lock our lips so that we cannot speak for the truth. I 
would not make religion political, but I would make 
politics religious. I would not carry party principles 
into Christianity, but I would have all party platforms 
christianized. The Jesuitical assumption, that we 
may do as politicians what we may not do as Chris- 
tians is infidelity in its worst form, and will lead to 
individual and national perdition. "When wrong is 
sanctioned in a political platform, when it becomes 
organic, it does not cease to be iniquitous ; and as 
Christians let us speak trumpet-tongued against all 



14 



sin, whether individual or national, whether pertain- 
ing to a person or a party. 

As Americans, let us cease from party warfare until 
the government shall be safe and the integrity of 
the nation firmly secured. 0, let us stand for our 
country, while traitors are endeavoring to drag us down 
to ruin ' Let us stand in the breach of the wall of 
our nationality, as the hope of the world, while merci- 
less rebellion aims to bury beneath the ruins ot our 
Republic — Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. 

We cannot mourn over this saddest event of mod- 
ern times (unless we shed crocodile tears) without 
hatin- the cause that bereaves the nation of its Chiet. 
We cannot reject the fruit without rejecting the tree. 
We cannot pronounce the stream impure and bitter 
while we declare the fountain sweet and good. When 
we sanction a cause we sanction its effect; and every 
contrite mourner to-day, must abhor not only this foul 
crime, but its origin. This leads me to notice- Sec- 
ondly: THE CAUSE OF THIS EVENT. 

It was not because of personal enmity the President 
was assassinated. Nofc because he had been guilty of 
insulting or injuring any man. Kot because he had 
been overbearing, harsh, or in any manner tyranni- 
cal There was no kinder man in the nation. He 
had a smile and a good word for all. He had tears 
to shed for the suffering, and time amid the most 
arduous labors of office to write letters full of sym- 
pathy and consolation to those who mourned the loss 
of friends and children on the battle-field. A\ hile 
sternly, honestly discharging his official duties his 
oreat, tender heart bled for those who shared the 
perils of war. His honesty of purpose and sincerity 
of life made him unsuspicious, and though repeatedly 
warned, he could not believe he was in any danger. 



15 

Panoplied in kindness and love, he felt safe as though, 
clad in triple steel. Forbearance has been noticed 
as a peculiar trait of his character, and seldom has this 
virtue shone forth more conspicuously than it did in 
him. His executive clemency has sometimes offended 
his friends. They have feared that his gentleness 
might interfere with the true administration of justice. 
Repeatedly has he exercised his right to extend mercy 
to those under sentence of death, or imprisonment: 
and sometimes in such a manner as to show the 
utmost kindness of heart. Abused, insulted, traduced, 
defied, as no other President has been: when did he 
use his great power to gratify feelings of anger, when 
did he manifest the spirit of revenge? You cannot 
point to an angry word, to any evidence of irritability, 
since his first inauguration. You know how he had 
been abused in Richmond by the rebel press and 
government, He went down there the other day, 
not with vengeance in his heart; he did not go to sow 
that guilty city with salt, and hang its traitors; but he 
went as a saviour and friend. The active and passive 
virtues were strangely, beautifully blended in his 
character. He will stand in the memory of the world 
among the most forbearing, kindly and gentle, whose 
generosity towards the most bitter foes is without a 
parallel among sucessful rulers and conquerors. 

The London Spectator, in the number for March 
25th, thus speaks of Mr. Lincoln's character. "Find- 
ing himself the object of southern abuse, so fierce and 
and so foul that in any man less passionless it would 
long ago have stirred up an implacable animosity, 
mocked at for his official awkwardness, and denounced 
for his steadfast policy by all the democratic section 
of the lo} r al states, tried by years of failure before that 
policy achieved a single great success, further tried by 



16 

a series of successes so rapid and so brilliant that they 
would have puffed up a smaller mind and overset its 
balance, embarrassed by the boastf illness of his people 
and of his subordinates, no less than by his own inex- 
perience in his relations with foreign states, beset by 
fanatics of principle on one side who would pay no 
attention to his obligations as a constitutional ruler, 
and by fanatics of caste on the other, who were not only 
deaf to the claims of justice, but would hear of no pol- 
icylarge enough for a revolutionary emergency, Mr. 
Lincoln has persevered through all, without ever 
giving way to anger, or despondency, or exultation, or 
popular arrogance, or sectarian fanaticism, or caste 
prejudice, visibly growing in force of character, in 
self-possession, and in magnanimity, till in his last 
short message to congress on the 4th of March, we can 
detect no longer the rude illiterate mould of a village 
lawyer's thought, but find it replaced by a grasp of 
principle, a dignity of manner, and a solemnity of pur- 
pose which would have been unworthy neither of 
Hampden nor of Cromwell, while his gentleness and 
generosity of feeling towards his foes are almost greater 
than we should expect from either of them." 

J^o, the cause of this assassination was not in him, 
was not in his assumption of illegal power. But he 
died of a foul, infectious, loathsome disease. A dis- 
ease that has covered the land with graves and filled 
it with mourning. That has cumbered the green 
shores of the Shenandoah, the James, the Mississippi, 
the Tennessee, and Cumberland with the heroic dead. 
A disease that infected our political atmosphere until 
virtue was almost banished from the councils of the 
i i : 1 1 it > n , and our great men were, morally, in a dying 
condition. 

In other words, his murder is the result of a system 



17 

tolerated and heretofore defended by the American 
people. It is a result of the same cause that murdered 
a Lovejoy because he dared to speak for freedom, 
that brutally assaulted a Senator in his seat in the Sen- 
ate Chamber at Washington, that instigated this gigan- 
tic rebellion, and that has carried it forward in a 
spirit of the utmost cruelty. It is the culmination of 
that spirit that has made trinkets of the bones of our 
dead heroes, and drinking cups of their skulls, that 
has starved our soldiers taken in battle and doomed 
them to the deep damnation of a stockade prison. " A 
tree is known by its fruits." Freedom, is the tree of 
Heaven — it produces peace, contentment, joy and 
love. Slavery, is a bogus plant — forever producing 
apples of discord, the ashy fruits of Sodom. It must 
be so until man is emasculated and reduced from the 
human to the brute. It must be so for 

God works for all. Ye cannot hem the hope of being free, 

With parallels of latitude, with mountain range or sea. 

Freedom, from Nimrod to Napoleon, has been the 
pulse-beat of the world, the rallying cry of every 
inspired ruler and reformer. Jesus, glorious, divine — 
was a Liberator, whose doctrine of equality, unity and 
liberty must at last break every yoke and set every 
captive free. Before the august tribunal of mankind, 
Slavery will have charged upon it, among its many 
crimes, the guilt of this felonious homicide. Why 
the assassin himself, says, by way of justifying his 
premeditated crime — "I for one have ever considered 
slavery as one of the greatest blessings that God ever 
bestowed upon a favored nation." He has done its 
behests, he has obeyed its spirit. 

Again — we find a secondary cause for this sad event 
in the bitter language, the unjust, ungenerous asser- 
tions of heated partizans. Lincoln has been called a 



18 

tyrant, a usurper, a murderer. friends, you have 
misjudged. He has been true to his oath of office, true 
to the demands of the people. He has been no more 
tyrannical than the loyal, heroic, sacrificing millions 
of the nation. If he was a tyrant, there is some 
excuse for J. W. Booth. Our fathers taught that 
"resistance to tyrants is obedience to God," and the 
world has always been lenient to the crime of tyran- 
nicide. 

Men, responsible, influential men have said, He ought 
to be shot. You have heard such disloyal, inflammatory 
language. I need not say it is wrong, dangerous. It 
comes from the spirit of rebellion, and has a tendency 
to destroy our country, to overthrow its institutions. 
Such language educates the vile, and tends to under- 
mine that respect for law which is our only security. 
If our President is guilty of usurpation,' or any great 
misuse of his office, let him be impeached — let him 
be tried before the high court of the nation. But let 
us not condemn him to the knife, or ball of the assas- 
sin, let us not revolt from his authority simply because 
he was not the candidate of our political party. 

This crime is the legitimate fruit of rebellion. It 
strikes the nation ; it demands for its victim the choice 
of the people. This is its spirit embodied in action, 
this is its crowning, and we trust its dying effort. 
Those assassins, who lastFriday night filled Washing- 
ton with alarm and the nation with sorrow, were not 
alone in their great crime. They were backed by every 
defender of treason, from Jeff. Davis, his cabinet and 
generals, to the feeblest cur that has barked at the 
heels of loyalty and patriotism. The rebellion aimed 
four years ago to destroy our President and overthrow 
our nation, and alas! to-day we mourn the loss of our 
Chief — but the nation, thank God, is vigorous; he dies 



ID 

by the hands of traitors, but our threatened country 
lives — 

Round the cold form of death, smiles and roses are blending — 
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb. 

The assassin is simply an earnest rebel ; simply in 
this murderous act, the hand on the body of confederate 
treason. If caught he will he hung; but how then 
shall the chiefs of the rebellion, on whom there is a 
torrent of blood, be pardoned and honored!!! O, my 

COUNTRY BE MERCIFUL AND JUST ! 

Thirdly. The Victim. 

During the last four years, many a princely, pre- 
cious sacrifice has been freely laid upon the altar of 
our country. We have often been called to mourn, as 
the loved, the noble and the brave, have fallen. We 
remember the early death of the gallant Ellsworth, 
whose mangled form, as it passed through the land, 
seemed, "sent like the twelve- divided concubine to 
inflame the tribes. " 

We mourned when young Winthrop fell, and Lyon, 
and Baker, and the peerless Mitchel ; and the many 
noble patriots, brilliant stars, that gave themselves for 
home and nation. Yet we never felt as we do to-day, 
when the body of our President lies stark and stiffupon 
the altar of our political hopes, the altar of our country. 

We shall not forget him. The nation will rear a 
monument over his grave. But we ought not to forget 
the noble band, the mighty army of heroes with whom 
he is now united in death. To-day we think of the 
first one who fell — that noble patriot boy, Luther 
Crawford Ladd. The city of Lowell has built a mon- 
ument for him. That is right ; but there are thousands 
as worthy, whose names should not be foregotten. It 
is sad for the dying soldier to think his grave will be 
unmarked and forever unknown ; that his lonely tomb 



20 

will never be wet with the tears of affection, or 
adorned by the hands of love. On the battle field of 
Fair Oaks, lying apart by themselves, were found four 
dead soldiers. A paper lay upon the breast of one and 
a pencil by his side. On the paper written with a fal- 
tering hand were their names, and these touching 
words: "Four dying soldiers. Be kind enough to 
give us a decent burial." I repeat, let us not forget 
our noble boys who have fallen on the field, or died in 
prison. "We cannot give them burial in the church 
yard at home; we cannot visit their graves; but we can 
inscribe their names upon the enduring marble, and 
thus preserve their memory. Every town should erect 
a monument for those .of their number who have 
fallen, "In the sacked cause of God and their Coun- 
try. " ' 

Our fallen Chief was by nature and early education 
a democrat. He belonged to the masses. He could 
not, without rejecting himself, be an advocate of 
social exclusiveness, or of a privileged class. 

He was slow to act, devoted to what he thought 
right, and when his purposes were formed he was firm 
as the hills. Unambitious, incorruptible, the crime 
for which he was slain was love of country and free- 
dom, regard for man, for the rights of all — white or 
black. We shall, as Americans, all glory in Abraham 
Lincoln. He is booked for a star, and destined to be 
one of the brightest that shines in the galaxy of the 
noble and the great. Like the noblest statesman of 
England, he ascends to heaven bearing the broken 
shackles of millions, and stands ready to be crowned 
the angel of American Emancipation. 

He lies before us a martyr. lie fell for principle. 
We cannot but notice the suggestive coincidence that 
he was struck down on Good Friday: a day mem- 



21 

orable forever as the anniversary of the sublimest 
love and most costly sacrifice. Day of all others that 
exhibits Divine mercy and forbearance. Our Presi- 
dent was betrayed on the night that saw a suffering 
Saviour in the agonies of death for the salvation and 
freedom of the world. His blood shall not be lost. 
In front of the house where he died, a little boy was 
seen rubbing bits of white paper on the steps and care- 
fully placing them in his pocket. On being asked why 
he did this, he repeated with childiMi simplicity: 
"Don't you see those dark stains? itis the blood of the 
President, and Iwantto save it." Yes, his blood shall 
be saved. It is precious. Like the ashes of the martyrs 
those drops shall be the seeds of freedom. 

The Avon to the Severn runs, 

'I he Severn to the sea, 
And Wickliff's dust shall spread abroad 

Wide as the waters be. 

The cause and tragedy of his death, shall extend 
his influence and secure his immortality. He fell the 
victim of a doomed and devoted system, was struck 
down in the midst of power and the exercise of mercy 
by a blind, staggering — 
Earth-born cyclops, fellest of the giant brood, 
Son of brutish force and darkness, who has drenched the earth 
with blood. 

The rebellion has committed a fatal error in his 
murder. It has destroyed its mediator. He stood 
beneath the balance of justice, in the attitude of mercy. 
He stood by the side of vengeance and held back the 
glittering sword, ready to fall on those who have left 
us & fatherless, a brotherless, a husbandless nation ; and he 
in the confidence of a victorious people could have 
bestowed mercy where now bolts of vengeance will fall. 



22 

The Lord have mercy on the weak, 

And calm their frenzied ire, 
And save our brothers ere they shriek, 
' We played with northern fire.' 
In conclusion — Let us notice — The lessons of 

TIIE HOUR. * 

God, who doeth all things well, has permitted us to 
be deeply bereaved, and if we receive this severe 
chastening in a spirit of national penitence and human- 
ity, it will at 1/ast be seen that it was good for us to 
be afflicted. We may have needed this last great sac- 
rifice, to lead us to feel how sacred, how priceless, is 
the freedom of a land ; how dearly bought are the 
principles of national integrity and virtue. 

We have, as a nation, been proud and oppressive 
retribution has come, but while heretofore we have 
been a nation of mourning individuals, weeping 
alone — now we are united in one sorrow, bowing 
together in a great and common grief. Then again, 
we may have needed a national martyr to make the 
cause in which he died forever sacred, to stimulate us 
to sustain with religious devotion, Union and freedom. 
Being dead, and dying in the service of his country 
he shall yet speak Ins words shall influence, his life. 
shall guide, and from his grave amid the prairies of 
the west, he shall plead with him who sleeps at Mt. 
Vernon for national virtue, for the widest liberty, for 
the principles of govermental justice. 

Our joy has been turned into mourning that we 
might properly finish the work which he so well began. 
We might have been disposed to barter the precious 
blood of our patriot heroes, for the tinsel of an empty 
peace — or the "pottage" of an iniquitous compromise. 
We might have been willing after having our fair land 
ploughed with Hie burning shareof war, and our fields 



23 

watered with blood, to permit the sowing again of 
those seeds of woe that have resulted in a harvest of 
death. We may have needed this further exhibition 
of the spirit of slavery, to teach us to detest it with 
the hearty hatred which it deserves. It is now pre- 
sented before us in such damning light, that no one 
will dare to stand as its advocate. In this solemn hour 
let us desire not only that rebellion should cease, but 
unite in the determination to remove its cause forever 
from our land and nation. While we mourn as no 
people ever mourned before, let us remember there 
is a God who has decreed that individual and national 
prosperity shall depend upon righteousness. Let us 
learn to put our trust in Him. His throne is unshaken. 
His government eternal. No power can deprive us 
of our God, or destroy the love and care of the Infi- 
nite. 

Let us be hopeful. "Our Country yet remains;" 
saved by its baptism of blood, it is endeared to us as 
it never was before by having our loved ones buried 
on a hundred battle-fields. 

Let us in the presence of God, in the presence of 
Death, renew our vows of loyalty and piety. Let us 
pray for our government, and hope for that peace 
which is the result of purity. 

There is ground for national hope, for believing 
that before us there is a glorious future. 

With rudder foully broken, 

With sails by traitors torn, 
Our country on a midnight sea 

Is waiting for the morn. 
But courage, my mariners ! 

Ye shall not suffer wreck, 
While up to God the freedman's prayers 

Are rising from your deck. 



24 

Sail on! the morning cometh, 

The port ye yet shall win ; 
And all the bells of God shall ring 
The good ship bravely in. 
But he has gone, who fondly looked and prayed 
for the dawn of that 'Aappy morning. Beyond the 
tumult of hattle, beyond the cares and labors and 
honors of state, our departed President rests in the 
peace of God. Beyond human praise or blame, we 
feel we can say nothing better of him than that, he 
was a good man. lie learned to love Jesus as he wept 
amid the graves of the brave boys who fell at Gettys- 
burg, and to love the Saviour is to secure a crown of 
eternal life. 

As we survey our land with sadness and hope, as we 
look upward with mingled tears and gratitude, let us 
remember our duty to our country and our God, — 
serve both in such a manner that when done with 
America, we may be prepared for Heaven. 



LB S '12 



